How to Make Vision Boards for Wellness and Life Goals

By Val Silver

Vision boards are a popular manifesting tool for helping you get on track and stay on track with health, wellness, and life goals. This tangible visualization technique can be used for anything you want to attract or reinforce in your life, whether it be a healthy fit body, an enjoyable social circle, living your life purpose, or improving your living conditions.

What is a Vision Board?

A vision board, or dream board, is an illustrated display that represents your goals. Because you can see and touch images of your goals, your intentions are easier to remember throughout the day. They seem more real than just imagining them in your head.

As you regularly look at the images and words, they 'imprint' on your conscious and subconscious mind in order to support and move you in the direction of your goal. They remind you of what you want to achieve and perhaps how you are going to achieve it. Every time you look at your board, your brain and the universe get the message that this direction and energy is what you are choosing for yourself. Images speak to the right hemisphere and words speak to the left hemisphere of your brain. When you include images and words on your board, you send a message to your whole brain.

Vision boards take on many appearances. They can be large or small, hand-drawn or printed pictures, realistic or pictorial representations of your goal. They are often pleasing collage-like arrays of pictures and meaningful words.

A very simple, but no less powerful display may contain nothing more than one image. Some people, for example, like to paste a picture of their face atop a trim, fit body cut from a magazine and tack it to the refrigerator .

Here is a virtual board I made to inspire myself to improve my diet because I want to feel healthier and maintain a healthy trim body. Notice that I used photos, as well as cartoon people and a comical speech bubble. My affirmations tell me that I love and eat a variety of healthy foods and drink fresh water and herbal teas. I wanted my board to have a clear message and light, positive, inspirational energy that supports my goal and makes it fun for me to look at and use.

how to create a vision board, healthy eating vision board

How to Make a Vision Board

Before you start creating your display, set your intentions. Reflect on what is important and meaningful to you. Ask yourself, "What do I really want to have, to become, and to experience? What makes me feel joyful and fulfilled? What kinds of people and things do I want in my environment? What kinds of physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional habits do I need to establish to make my dreams a reality?

The answers to these questions will guide you in choosing images that best represent what you really want and what you can do to move you in that direction. Then use that information to make an inspiring collage that illustrates your goals and intentions.

Your vision board can be as simple or elaborate as you like. It is best to stay focused on one goal and theme. If you have more than one goal, create a dream board for each goal. Let yourself get 'in the flow'. Have fun. Get creative. Look at examples of vision boards to get ideas. This is not about being perfect. Go with what feels good. It will mean more to you, and trigger positive emotions when you look at it, which is a powerful force in manifesting. You can always modify it later.

Cut pictures out of a magazine, use photos, or draw them them yourself. Glue the pictures onto a piece of cardboard or poster board. Choose images that feel positive to you, are easy to see, and relate to your goal. For holistic health and wellness, images might represent exercising, healthy foods, walking, smiling, enjoying family time, herbs, natural remedies, feeling energetic. You can send a powerful message to your subconscious mind if the photo is of you. IE: snap a photo of yourself eating a healthy meal, taking a walk, or pointing to a magazine photo of a beach.

Arrange your items in a visually pleasing array. Sometimes less is more. Ask yourself how it looks and feels to you before tacking everything onto the board. Positive feeling is key.

Choose large bold text from a variety of sources. Or write your affirming phrases yourself. Choose one word or short power phrase text messages. Avoid using: no, not, none, don't, can't, should, must, have to, avoid, bad...Choose positive words like happy, healthy, satisfied, fulfilled, purpose, value.

If the photos or words you choose trigger negative thoughts, replace them. Better yet, use emotional and mental release techniques to neutralize and shift stinking thinking that interferes with your goals. For example, if a picture of a trim body elicits thoughts such as "I could never look like that, or fat chance," that is the self talk you would do well to address. Otherwise, that is what you will reinforce, regardless of which manifesting tool you use.

How to Use Your Vision Board

Place your dream board where you will see it at as much as possible. Really pause to look at it, read it and get into the images at least twice a day. Bring positive emotion into it. Feel as if you have it.

Change the location of your board once in a while so that you continue to notice it.

If you like, copy some of the images and text and put them in conspicuous places around your home or office for reinforcement. Refrigerator and cupboard doors, bathroom mirrors and car dashboards are popular choices. Set one on your desk or next to the TV too.

Bring life to your vision board by turning it into a mind movie. These are really fun to watch and if you add music, they are fun to listen to, as well.

Update and refresh your board with new images and affirmations so that it stays aligned with your goals.

After a while, you may want to put your dream board out of sight. Take it out in a few months or a year later and see which goals you manifested.

Above all, adapt a fun, light attitude toward your board. Release emotional attachment to your dreams to the universe. As appropriate, continue to take consistent inspired action toward your goals.

Because they are easy to make and fun to use, vision boards are a manifesting tool that inspires positive energy and emotion from the start. They help you stay attuned to what you want whether used alone or along with other visualization and manifestation techniques. It is all about getting your mind body spirit connection to work with you to create new habits and possibilities.